Managers’ Change Communication Competence Links with the Success of the Organisational Change
Keywords:
change management success, communication competence, managers’ learning, Lithuania.Abstract
The paper seeks to explore how to enhance managers’ communication competence required for successful change management within enterprises. The main goal of the survey is to find out the links between change communication competence and change management success. Also the paper reveals what communication competencies are needed during the organizational change and what are the most effective ways to acquire them. The change management literature emphasizes the importance of the communication during the organizational change. The paper identifies managers’ communication competence required during the change as well as the ways of learning. The empirical research carried out in more than 40 Lithuanian fast-growing enterprises, reveals how Lithuanian managers develop communication competence and which form of learning is most common.
Analysis of the literature confirms that the success of the organizational change highly depends on internal communication. The survey reveals the content and the process of managers’ learning, as well as that informal learning or in other words – learning by doing is common among Lithuanian managers.
Some research limitations can be defined. First, the scope of the research was limited – it would be interesting to investigate relationships of the managers’ communication competence and resistance to change. Second, the results of the empirical research could be proved in the cross-cultural context.
The findings of the paper contribute to the further research on management development and change management. The information on how managers learn to communicate before and during the change will help to improve the services of management training providers. The paper identifies what kind of communication competence is required to lead the change and in what way they are acquired. Also the relationship between formal, non-formal and informal management learning in the change process is defined.
